patrick.net

I am up 33% so far, have recently moved much of my money into CEFs

Once you are rich, you may expect to live well from dividends, interest, rents, business profits, etc. and may avoid risk since you don't need any more capital.

If you want to accumulate more capital, you probably can assume some risk; mutual funds usually help lower risk.

I was determined to avoid being broke during my retirement, which was a terrible thing in my mind; buying stock mutual funds didn't seem nearly risky by comparison to me.

I have a friend down here in Baja Sur Mexico who is English and not well off; because he doesn't have much dough he had hip replacement surgery here, and there were complications. His quality of life is poorer now because he didn't have the money to be in England for 6 months so he could be treated there. Their system has rules about guys coming home after living overseas evidently.

Insurance is for spreading the risk of something to a pool of many other people; statistically this helps lower your risk of ruin.
I applied for a Mexican resident visa for the purpose of buying private health insurance while I'm down there.

gabbar says

It is said that rich minimize risk

For a person to go from poor to rich, some risk taking was in order. For those who married into wealth or inherited it, I suppose those are the rich who avoid risk.

My stocks have now surpassed the day after election rally. I suppose others on Patnet have the same results. I wonder what is driving the increase.

I'm also way up.

I suppose it's optimism about the economy, but that could be "irrational exhuberance" as Greenspan once said.

What is making the stock market exhuberant: 1. the prospect of lower interest rates, especially if Trump gets the economy moving 2. the prospect of tax cuts or no tax increases 3. the prospect of lower oil and energy prices.

Whether the above comes to pass, stock investors like the possibilty of it.

HeadSet says

I am letting dividends pile up in a MMSA that pays about 4%. Where are you keeping your cash while you wait for the indexes?

For the Vanguard account, funds sweep to VMFXX, which is all right by me. ETrade is total sh*t since being bought by Morgan Stanley. I think they sweep to a MS bank account (for you safety! I was told when I called) that pays like .1%. So some of that I put in CLIP (short term treasuries) and the rest to VMFXX. These are all in retirement accounts. YMMV.

SharkyP says

I am up 33% so far, have recently moved much of my money into CLOs.

I had to look up CLO - first hit was "Collateralized Loan Obligation". How does a retail investor move into CLO's and why would you?

TIA.

clambo says

the prospect of lower oil and energy prices.

This. The inflation has happened already. Prices will stay where they are and margins will increase. Some brands might have to cut prices a bit. In my world Biden actually did a good thing for Trump. Not intentional.

Hauling shit up and down the Mississippi. LA to Denver. Chicago to Indianapolis. New York to Nashville. If that shit gets cheaper to ship profits go up. I know some energy prices are contracted at a set price like airlines and probably ships. But if you're the guy eating ramen noodles because you can't pay for gas, you're going to end up spending more with cheaper gas.

Also profits on LNG being exported to Europe will go up. I don't like predictions, but if Trump is drill baby drill it's gonna be good. Anyone on here have oil fields, fracking, natural gas pipelines around them? Natural gas is a biggie by me. Cleanest sites for a major energy corporation. The environmentalist just need to get over it. Get over the gay and trans shit as well.

Hopefully the Democrats will finally open their eyes (not actually hopeful). You know who benefits from lower gas prices equally? LGTBQ weirdos. Us right wing nut jobs WANT to help you. Have a 401k, lower energy HELPS you. No one is out there beating gays and trans people... besides Juicy Smolett, self inflicted.

I don't trust the MAGA transition is done, but it really is a party of the people. I think people are seeing the Dem party has failed them. R's ain't perfect with the RINO class, but it's better in the House for sure.

Gotta get these geezers out of office, specifically Congress (sorry patnet geezers). Congress should be 35-55 at oldest. I like Clarence Thomas, but he needs to retire so SCOTUS is secure and hope Sotomayor drops dead. Not a threat as I have ZERO interest in going to DC. Been there done that. And whoever plans to run in 2028, plant your seeds now. The Dem bullpen is empty so get a head start. Simple as just stating I want to run. Trump is a lame duck, so it won't bother him.

What the heck happened this afternoon that caused the stocks to plummet?

Maybe Fed comments implying they will not be able to cut rates any further because of inflation.

Patrick says

Maybe Fed comments implying they will not be able to cut rates any further because of inflation.

I thought I scored well two days ago when I bought Ford on a quick dip to $9.95 and it settled back up to about $10.07. Now the gods laugh and Ford plummets this afternoon to around $9.70. The rest of my portfolio fell over $50k in just 1 hour or so after 3PM. These market reactions usually reverse themselves so hopefully it will recover of the next few days.

This country has been running on fumes ever since 2008. Take the red pill and enjoy the decline. Oh, and learn 18th Century skills - you'll need them.

Wow, stocks continuing to fall. Maybe a buying opportunity?